Famed WWII codebreaker Alan Turing will be granted a posthumous pardon
by the British government. Turing committed suicide after being
convicted of gross decency under Britain's anti-homosexuality code.

The government signalled on Friday
that it is prepared to support a backbench bill that would pardon
Turing, who died from cyanide poisoning at the age of 41 in 1954 after
he was subjected to "chemical castration". Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, a
government whip, told peers that the government would table the third
reading of the Alan Turing (statutory pardon) bill at the end of October
if no amendments are made. "If nobody tables an amendment to this bill,
its supporters can be assured that it will have speedy passage to the
House of Commons," Ahmad said. The announcement marks a change of heart
by the government, which declined last year to grant pardons to the
49,000 gay men, now dead, who were convicted under the 1885 Criminal Law
Amendment Act. They include Oscar Wilde.